Diy

New video coming at you soon! I wanted to share a couple of snaps I got, because I want to show what a mess my filming set up is. It used to really hold me back from filming. I actually ordered a tripod for my camera, but it didn’t arrive. So I ended up cellotaping my iPhone to a box of tea (which inside had a can of chickpeas to weigh it down) and using the front camera to record. And getting the correct height with some books and a water dispenser. Can you tell from the video snap? Not one bit. In the past, I’ve used a Weetbix box, DVDs, books, anything that will prop my phone or camera to the right height. And this isn’t my room. I borrowed it. I didn’t even brush my hair (which I admit was a mistake, looking at the footage). I used to worry so much about lighting, hair, makeup, the right equipment, etc. but it doesn’t even matter. My videos are currently getting a couple of hundred views, I don’t need a whole studio set up. But I let it stop me from filming for far too long.

Moral of the story: DON’T LET THE SMALL THINGS STOP YOU FROM ACHIEVING YOUR BIG DREAMS.

6 months of daily meditation: review

I don’t have a photo of me meditating because I’m almost always alone with my eyes closed (not ideal conditions for a photo!)

I’ve just hit 183 - the halfway mark to my goal of 365 days of meditating! Here’s a review:

1. It’s only in the last few weeks that I’ve really been pushing myself to meditate in the morning no matter what. It’s such a relief not to get into bed at 12:30 and think “ah! I forgot to meditate!” I’m trying to make morning meditation a non-negotiable.

2. Some days, I do a 30 minute guided meditation, and other days, it’s 5 minutes of deep, focused breathing. I’m not regimented about it - I do what I feel like, which keeps it enjoyable and fun, and not a chore. I think this is a major key to habit formation. Keeping it FUN (e.g. I could be running harder and faster, I could be doing more push up training, but I’m determined to keep them enjoyable and fun, so I just focus on keeping the habits).

3. I’m most surprised about this: I don’t think I’ve progressed in terms of being able to focus on my breath for longer. I’m equally as distracted as I was when I began. I’m not sure if this is because I’m not working on it very much (e.g. 5 or 10 mins a day compared to hours), or if I’m just not “doing it right” - an idea that I very much resist, as that’s not my aim of meditating (see point 4).

4. My aim is to feel good and enjoy it in the moment. This isn’t really about “getting to 365 days” as a goal - it’s about forming the habit of taking care of myself. I just love a challenge - it gets me more excited than “meditate every day” would. (I’ve tried that too, for the past 10 years, and failed miserably, so tip, if you’re struggling to form a habit, make it a challenge!).

5. I love guided meditations the most. Today I did an incredibly blissful 5 minute one.

6. It still doesn’t feel like a habit, because I’m doing it at different times of the day. However, I know from past experience that if I stopped, after a few days I would really notice and crave it.

7. When I’m anxious or stressed, I often think to meditate as a solution. It works!

8. I’m looking forward to the next 182 days - I’m so grateful I started this challenge.

My top 3 guided meditation recommendations:

• Calm Guided Meditation to Gain Abundance, Love & Happiness | Bob Proctor

• 5 Minute Stress Relief Guided Meditation | The Honest Guys

• Prosperity Guided Meditation | YouAreCreators

Do you have a meditation practice? Let me know about yours in the comments by clicking the blog title!

Push ups: Week 6

Day: 39
Push up ability: 18

I went for a gorgeous walk today, I usually go running around here, but this week I’ve been a bit unwell so I didn’t want to push it too much. However, when I got back I managed 18 press ups! Woohoo!

I wasn’t sure if I’d still be able to even do 13 like I did a few weeks ago, because I haven’t been training much at all, just a few here and there when I remember. I’d really like to work on my form more too, perhaps a few YouTube videos and maybe asking a personal trainer for pointers.

I’ve been crazy busy the last few days, and have a really busy two weeks coming up, so I’m actually a bit concerned how I’ll get my daily blogs done because my schedule just so chock-a-block.

Should be some vlogs coming your way too if I can create the time to edit them 💪🏻

So let’s see how we go this week!

Black and white obsession

On of my goals for this month is to take better photographs (and also to create 4 YouTube videos!).

And if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I’m a fan of black and white photography - I just think everything looks so much more elegant and impactful in black and white! Plus, it keeps my Instagram feed consistent.

However, it’s clear my photography and videography skills need a bit more work before they will look at the level I desire! So today I’ve been putting together some images of how I’d love my YouTube videos look (It’s been a mental block for me that I feel like I don’t have somewhere good to film/that I always have to “set up” to film. I just want to be able to hit record and go - it’s part of the reason I haven’t been creating YouTube videos consistently even though I have a MASSIVE desire to!).

How delicious are those video shots of Cindy Crawford and Jameela Jamil? Clearly, I have a long way to go, with lighting and backdrops and texture, but I’m excited to be on the path.

If you’ve got any black & white photography/videography tips, send them my way!

PUSH UPS: WEEK 4

Just saw this gorgeous display and had to get a snap. Working on taking more pictures for my blog, so enjoy a random display!

Day: 24
Push up ability: 13

After a gorgeous sunny day out, a picnic in the park and a girls movie night (what a girl wants, such a fab film!), I attempted some late night push ups. AND I MADE IT TO 13! That’s my personal best so far! I still need to work on my form, but to actually be able to push up body up and down off the ground 13 times in a row makes me feel so good!

Today is the first day I can feel that my arms are actually a bit achy, and I can imagine I will feel it tomorrow a lot more, because I did lots of reps today to make it to 13 in a row. I wonder how long it will take me to get to 100 in a row. Making progress gets me PUMPED up and so excited to work harder at it.

I haven’t been working consistently enough on doing reps throughout the day, so that’s something I’m going to focus on from here on.

I’ll keep you posted!

September goals

I’m sharing my September Goals because if you’ve been following me you know that I’m ALL about public accountability. There’s nothing quite like telling the world that you’ll do something to light a fire under you!

My September Goals:
(All of these goals are directly focused on progressing me towards my bigger, impossible goals which you can read about here)

• I will easily do 15 push ups in a row by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily photograph 5 high resolution shoots for my blog posts that I am proud to share by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily put out one video a week on YouTube (4 videos) by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily create a consistent weekly newsletter by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily read 2 personal development books by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily complete my quiz for my website by September 30, 2019.

Looking forward to giving you an update at the end of the month!

What are your September goals?

August review

I had loads of interest about my one year in business review, so I thought it would be fun do a general life monthly review too.

(This is the first month that I’ve blogged every single day of the month, and it’s so awesome to be able to look back at my month and easily remember everything that happened).

Everything that happened in August:

1. After months and months of creating, I finally launched Impossible Incubator, my membership site for people who are pursuing impossible goals! I have 13 amazing members, which is a wonderful size to start with because it’s a tight-knit group and everyone is connecting and keeping each other accountable, and making awesome progress too. I’m super excited for it to grow in September and beyond!

2. Started working on my impossible goal to do 100 push ups. When I started, I was at zero. Now, only a few weeks later, I can already do 8 in a row, on my feet! I thought I would still be doing the push ups on my knees at this point, so I’m stoked with the progress.

3. Started up my Youtube channel again. I’m committing to one video a week starting from September. I’ve let go of my need to make it perfect, and I’m just creating videos in a “livestream style” (but not actually live) that don’t require much editing so I can get them out more quickly. I realised that was one of the blocks I was having around doing Youtube videos - that it would take ages to edit. My “how I overcame my fear of flying” video only took 3 hours from start to finish, which is awesome because my other videos took me probably more than 10 hours each.

4. I went to Budapest and had a phenomenal time there! It was for a personal/business development day, and I feel like I up-leveled my mindset 10x. My biggest takeaway was that in order to create the success you want, you have to step into being that person NOW. You can do that by asking yourself the question: “Now that I am someone who {insert your goal or desire} what do I do? What do I believe? How do I act?” And then take action on that!

5. Went running 21 times. I can’t believe it’s that many. In the past, I’d be proud if I managed to exercise once per week. You can read all about how I changed my habit here.

6. Meditated every single day (or night!). I’m on day 160 of 365. I’m really enjoying just meditating with no ‘outcome’. Just enjoying it, whether it’s a 30 minute guided meditation or a 5 minute breathing exercise. For a while felt like I was doing it “wrong”. Now I’m just going with the flow.

7. Started my 21 day complaint-free challenge. As of today, I’ve completed 3 days of no complaining in a row (if I complain, I have to start back at day 1).

What would I change?
If I were to repeat August, I’d spend less time worrying and more time just trusting I’ll be able to work things out.

What did I learn?
That having too many things on my to do list burns me out! I need to take time out to relaaaax.

What am I grateful for?
Overcoming my fear of flying! I’ve been afraid of flying for more than 10 years, and now I feel totally free. You can watch my video on how I overcame it here.

What was the best thing?
I had my wonderful friends come all the way from New Zealand, and that was absolutely fantastic. They both spoiled me, and really helped me out during the launch of Impossible Incubator. I even got surprised with personalised vegan cupcakes!

Day to day, it can feel like not much progress is being made, but when I look back over the month, it’s easy to see that I’m actively moving in the direction I want to go. I highly recommend doing a review of your month, even if just for yourself!

Let me know what you think about my review, and if you’d like me to keep doing them! If you create a review, I’d love to read it! Tag me on Instagram @saraharnoldhall or email me at hello@saraharnoldhall.com.

My vision board

Ah! Sharing my vision board kind of makes me nervous. All of those “What will people think of my dreams? What if they think I’m silly?” thoughts come up.

But I get so inspired and motivated when other people share their vision and their dreams, so I want to do the same. Hopefully you get value from me sharing my dreams!

Why did I create a vision board? (Or what even is a vision board?!)

By being able to see and visualise my goals and dreams, I am inspired and excited to action more often. That’s really the whole idea - to create a visual representation of your goals so you’ll feel inspired to take action.

I created my board using Pinterest photos and putting them together in a collage on Canva (not sponsored, haha!).

Here’s what the photos on my vision board represent:

• Creating a podcast

• Doing loving-kindness meditation

• Having deep connection with friends (while having a cup of tea!)

• Sharing my message on stage

• Filming videos for Youtube

• Doing 100 push ups

• Relaxing (I’m working on taking time out from work!)

• Reaching 100k subscribers on Youtube (subscribe here!)

• Working from an inspiring home office

• Creating & selling a personalised life planner (has been a dream for years!)

• Running a retreat in Fiji

• Having a deep connection with my partner

• Writing in my gratitude journal

• Attending a Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within event

• Rescuing animals from slaughter

• Going to my coaching recertification training in California in 2020

Of course, this vision board doesn’t represent my entire life’s vision, nor does it portray every aspect of the best human I want to be (for example, it doesn’t show core values, beliefs or purpose).

Even as I’m writing this, I feel like I need to give an explanation for what I want, as if desiring to live my best life is wrong in some way (hello there, people-pleasing brain).

But no. I’m unapologetic about wanting to live my best life, and to help others live their best lives too.

Do you have a vision board? Let me know in the comments (you can comment by clicking the title of this post!).

Push Ups: Week 3

Day: 16
Push up ability: 8

You guys, I did EIGHT push ups in a row today! On my feet! With (mostly) correct posture!

I had no idea how fast my body could get strong. I’m starting on week 3 now, and if I’m honest, I haven’t been following the routine because I was finding it arbitrary when I couldn’t even do one push up.

I’m going to give the routine another go (you can check it out here), but I’m just stoked with my progress!

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

Whenever I remember about push ups, or I think about them, I just drop and do as many as I can. Then I get up and carry on with my day. Sometimes, that means I do them 4ish times a day, and other times that means I don’t do them at all. But just using “thinking” about it as a trigger is so easy. I can do a quick round of a few push ups in under 15 seconds, so there’s really no excuse not to drop anything I’m doing for a few reps! Even thinking about some now - I’m going to do it now! (DONE - I managed 7 and a half this time haha!).

It’s so awesome to feel the transformation. The fact that I can now - within two weeks of starting - push my own body weight up and down off the floor might not seem like a big deal. But I’ve gone TWENTY THREE YEARS without being able to even do ONE. And all it took was 2 weeks of practice and I can do EIGHT?!

The various sayings around “you don’t know how strong you are” really ring true for me right now. I wonder what else I’m capable of that I haven’t even tried #positivemindset

They haven’t (so far) been causing me muscle pain or aches (possibly means I could push a bit harder, but I like that I’m able to just drop and do them AND see progress without feeling sore - it’s much more enjoyable that way!).

(Side note: yesterday I said I would “Bring The Fun” today, and that’s what I did with the push ups. It’s fun to just suddenly remember half way through walking down the hallway, and just go for it right there!)

I can’t wait to update you again on my progress. Stay tuned because 100 push ups is coming <3

Growth = Happiness

Do you ever feel like the anticipation of your birthday is more exciting than your actual birthday?

It’s not to say that the birthday isn’t enjoyable, but that the imagining, the anticipating, the planning - they are all what make it so special.

It’s my 30th day of daily blogging today, and I’m super pleased I’ve made it this far. I can feel my writing and my content evolving already. One month down, 23 to go!

Although achieving the final goal and passing the finish line is important, I discovered that it’s actually more about the growth.

It’s not about “being there” (I don’t want to wake up tomorrow and find out that I’ve blogged for two years already, that would be awful because I would have missed out on the experience of doing it) and it’s not even about the journey - it’s about the moment we’re in right now. Enjoying writing this, right now.

But how can I be 100% happy with now, if I’m so ambitious?

A while ago, I wrote my own definition of happiness. It took me three days (I’m not kidding) of introspecting and researching to figure out what happiness means to me.

I came up with this definition:

Happiness is being content with the stage of growth you’re currently in.

So, while I’m on day 30 of my two year blogging challenge - I’m not trying to rush ahead to the last day. I am content with the stage of growth I’m currently in.